What if the He-100?

It has said, that the He-100 (originally the He-113) was a potential successor to the Bf 109. The aircraft which flew for the first time in January 1938, was very fast with a top speed of 670km/h at 4,000 meters. The prototypes did set a number of speed records but the type did not go into service. Why not? In many respects the fighter almost looks better then the Bf-109 but was rejected due to politics.

If the He-100 was chosen over the Bf-109 would there be a perhaps in change of the air war for Germany?

Specifications:
Crew: 1
Powerplant: 1,175 Daimler-Benz DB 601 12-cylinder inverted-Vee engine
Max speed: 416mph
Service Ceiling: 36090ft
Max range: 627
Wingspan 30ft 10in
Armament: one 20mm cannon in engine installation and either 2 20mm cannons or 2 7.92mm mgs in the wing roots.

 

IMO the end result would be the same. One type aircraft would not have affected the airwar that much. Here is a great article on it and it mentions other reasons other then politics as to why it wasn't accepted.

Heinkel He 100
Heinkel HE 100

 

I thought that at first as well JCF. However I have thought about it for alittle while, and what if it did change the war.

I do not no much about this plane so I can not speak as though I know but if this plane was better then the Me109 and the Spitfire, you could argue that the Battle of Britain could have been won, the German invasion of Russia could have been more successful with a better fighter, as well as North Africa and Italy. The war may not have ended sooned but perhaps the war could have been prolonged.

There have been many discussions on this forum about what if the Germans captured Russia faster, could they have won? Well with Panzer III and IV's moving across the Russian steeps being supported by SPGs and Mobile Artillery, as well as Stukas for tank busters, and finally the He-100 as fighter escort and other variants as tank busters or close support planes, would it be possible?

 

Can you get this plane on IL2?

 

I hate to go off-topic on a He100 thread, but the problem in Barbarossa was not the teeth but the tail.

 

Ah, but would the battle of Britain perhaps be more challenging for the British?

 

It would have made it a little more interesting perhaps. But the other factors and German actions and shortcomings would would have still have had to be gotten over. The BoB wasn't lost just because of aircraft.

 

Both good points and very true

 

I'm taking a sidetour here, but please forgive me.

Why is it that everybody always thinks of the Spitfire when it comes to the BoB?
Wasn't it the Hurricane that had most of the kills?

 

First look at the timeline: The He 100D first flies in September 1939. Prior to this, the He 100 series has had serious mechanical and technical problems in development. If the RLM did decide to go ahead with service testing and series production their first step is to procure a batch of "pre-production" models which historically they did. 12 D-1 model aircraft were authorizied for production the same month.
Once these were completed and used in service testing...say the middle of 1940, the RLM would have gone ahead with full production orders. Of course, this would likely have to be given to someone other than Henkel for actual production as the Henkel firm was pretty much fully booked building aircraft like the He 111 already. Possibly Henschel might have been used.
The biggest problem here is what do you do with the Me 109 already in production? The Henkel is now competeing for the limited number of DB 601 engines in production so both aircraft can't continue in full production. Do you phase out the 109? Do you cancel production cold and hope the He 100 will reach sufficent production in its stead quickly?
Can the 109 be retooled for a different engine as the He 100 can't?

How does this switch in production right as the BoB is beginning effect the outcome?

 

The Hurricane was the more numerous of the two during the BoB. And the Spitfire got all the glory.

 

Interesting, I guess instead of "Look out a 109!" it would be "Heinkels!" or "100s"

 

How do you pronounce 'Heinkel" anyway?

 

Exactly. Really, the BoB was mostly lost in about 1938, when the decision to toss out the long-range bomber was made, and the fact that no realistic provision for long-range escort was made by the Luftwaffe. Once that was done, there really wasn't much way to win the BoB. I will concede that if they had continued hitting the fighter bases instead of switching to London, it would have been harder on the RAF, but, once you consider the max range of the Me 109 fighter escorts, the picture becomes more clear as to the limitations of the Luftwaffe vs Britain. They could have gotten local air superiority for a short time over that little section of Britain. And at the time, I don't know if they could have kept it up for very long. They weren't producing even as many fighters as the British were per month. Many assume that if the Luftwaffe had kept up the pressure, that they would have won the BoB. I'm not so sure that they could have kept it up long enough to do it.

(A good source for the range limitations is in The Luftwaffe War Diaries, by Cajus Bekker)

 

Maybe the Luftwaffe could sustain both. Just hear me out on this, imagine that the Heinkel He-100 became the front line fighter and the Messerschmitt Bf-109 became secondary, Messerschmitt decides that it can live with the situation and decides that the Messerschmitt Bf-110 is no longer needed and cancels it all together, thus freeing up production lines to build either more Bf-109's or build under license the He-100.

And so when the BoB comes around the Heinkel He-100 takes on the Spitfire and the Messerschmitt Bf-109 takes on the Hurricane, in a role reversal it is proven in the BoB that the He-100 is far superior to the Spitfire, and of course the Bf-109 is superior to the Hurricane. In this the RAF from the outset is outclassed, German fighter production is more due to the cancellation of the Bf-110 (I am sure it takes more time to produce a Bf-110 than it does a Bf-109 or He-100), so in this during the BoB the Germans can produce 30 to 40% more fighters than it traditionally did.

v.R.

 

This should get you close.

...kind of a cross between 'hay', 'high' and 'ankle'

-whatever

-Lou

 

Interesting that wikipedia says there are no surviving examples of the aircraft yet here is this AIRPOWER.CALLIHAN.CC- Heinkel 100

 

Nice photos mate. She appears to be a mixture of a Me109, Spitfire, Hurricane and the Fw190, or is it just the way I am looking at it?

 

The Luftwaffe couldn't have both. That is why, historically, the He 100 didn't get produced. There were not enough engines for both and shutting down Me 109 production would have left the Luftwaffe without sufficent fighter planes coming off the production line.

Now, it might have been possible for the RLM to tell Messerschmitt to use the Jumo 211 as it was actually fitted to a couple of 109 prototypes that flew so that is possible. That would have been somewhat disruptive but less so than cancelling production cold.

The other thing is the timeline would put very few He 100D models in operational service by July 1940. So, for the BoB the Henkel would still not be the dominant fighter. It likely would be by the time Germany invades the Soviet Union but, that is a bit late to have any effect on Britain.

 

I believe that's a replica. Here is a link to the Planes of Fame forum - note the first question in the first post, and the response from the site admin (who, one would think, should be in the know - I mean, heck, look at OUR admins and mods.... they know EVERYTHING)


-whatever

-Lou

Confirmed. Planes of Fame website.

It's definitely a replica.